Purgatorio

In addition to his conception of Purgatory as both painful and joyful, Dante incorporates paradox in his repeated expression that humans cannot fully access the divine. They must try, however, as the process may bring them closer to divine understanding. Dante reveals his own shortcomings in this to underscore his message: “Had I the skill/To pencil forth, how clos’d th’ unpitying eyes/Slumb’ring […] I might design/The manner of my falling into sleep” (310). Dante’s falling asleep or fainting when overwhelmed thus exemplifies how humankind will inevitably fall short as they attempt to access the divine. 

Other instances of paradox include Virgil’s description of love’s expansion through sharing, and Forese’s expression of joy at his penitential suffering. According to Virgil, one way that humans sin is by believing that honor and acclaim are zero-sum propositions. Through their jealous hoarding, love diminishes, but when they share love, love grows, which paradoxically creates more love to go around. When Dante meets Forese, Dante laments seeing his old friend so shrunken, but Forese feels joy at his own suffering. The tree that creates painful longing is purifying him of his excess consumption in life. Thus, he sees the pain as a paradoxical source of solace that reminds him of his imminent reward.

Poetic form is a crucial way Dante expresses his theme that humans cannot entirely understand the divine. His form enables Dante to demonstrate how humans can bring imaginative, intellectual, and sensory faculties to bear when approaching the divine. Dante compels his readers to participate actively in the creation of meaning by incorporating challenging and unique turns of phrase that require decoding. For instance, he describes the shadow that his physical body creates by explaining that “the sunlight on the earth is split” (170). He repeatedly uses extended analogies, inviting readers to compare an experience they have had or witnessed with events occurring in Purgatory. He opens Canto 17 by issuing an explicit invitation: “Reader, recall, if ever in the hills/a fog has caught you so you couldn’t see” (236).